Sasanian Times Research Articles

From the Fire Temple to the Mosque: the religious urban landscape in Late Antique Ērānšahr

This paper is an analysis of the change in urban spaces in the former Sasanian empire after the Arab-Muslim conquest. How events shaped the population’s life is reflected by how urban society shaped the spaces within the city. Paradigmatic of this is the case of religious spaces. In a syncretic empire such as the Sasanian Ērānšahr (224–650 CE), places of worship were not limited to fire altars and temples, there were also churches and synagogues as vital parts of the religious environment. According to the archaeological and historiographic attestations, religious spaces in Sasanian times were prevalent in a rural dimension. In 650 CE, the empire was turned upside down by the Arab-Muslim conquest and the transition period to a unified Islamic society is known as Islamization. This event is often described as a rupture; however, it can be better represented as acculturation because of the cultural exchange taking place during the conversion and the elaboration of Islamic social institutions. One of the primary marks of this process includes constructing new religious urban spaces, the mosques both inside and outside city walls. Religious spaces marked both the territory and the identity of the people inhabiting it. However crucial to the construction of mosques, is a parallel shift of the religious space from a rural to an urban environment.

The perception of Romans (hrōmāyīg) in the Sasanian and Zoroastrian traditions

The Sasanian and Roman/Byzantine Empires were protagonists in a harsh military confrontation lasting almost four centuries. However, at the same time they built a sophisticated rhetoric of coexistence and a language of diplomacy to pursue their own political goals. While there are many Roman and Byzantine sources describing the Sasanian world, hardly anything is known about how the Sasanians and Zoroastrians perceived the Romans from a cosmological point of view. The shaping of an Iranian identity in Sasanian times demanded the construction of a hostile ‘‘other’’. Rome became that “other” and the Iranian and Zoroastrian world’s fatal arch-enemy. This article will present and analyze several Iranian and Roman/Byzantine sources with the aim of demonstrating how Sasanians represented themselves as superior to the Romans, while granting them an important role as the main enemy in the context of the cosmological final battle according to the Zoroastrian tradition.

The Sasanian Fire Temple of Gach Dawar in Western Iran: New Evidence

ABSTRACTIn 1978 a Canadian archaeological mission conducted one season of excavation at the fire temple of Gach Dawar with the main focus of the operation on four ancillary rooms added to the exterior of the main Chahar Taq. The programme was terminated in 1979 by the onset of the Iranian revolution. The new excavation in 2007 re-examined the rooms originally exposed by the Canadian mission, as well as working in the heart of the Chahar Taq and other adjacent rooms. The discovery of a number of cult installations within the Chahar Taq explicitly indicates that the building was designed as a fire temple. The structural layout and the pottery recovered from the building imply an original construction dating to Sasanian times, four building phases identified. The presence of the Islamic material excavated can be explained as reuse of the building in subsequent periods.

Sasanian glass from Veh Ardašīr investigated by strontium and neodymium isotopic analysis

A collection of 31 glass fragments, dated to the 3rd to 7th century AD and excavated in Veh Ardašīr, (modern Iraq), were analysed for their Sr and Nd isotopic compositions with the aim of deepening our knowledge on glass circulating within central Mesopotamia during Sasanian times and to highlight the merits of isotope ratios for the definition of the production scenery. Based on the elemental composition of the samples, two groups related to the exploitation of different plant ashes were previously distinguished, and also a change in the silica source in the course of the 4th century AD emerged. The determination of isotopic distributions of Sr and Nd offers a deeper insight. The 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio, together with the Sr elemental concentration, confirms this use of different plant ashes, and permits one to distinguish distinct glass batches, although the isotopic Sr signature does not allow us to highlight evidences of different provenances for the samples of different composition. Moreover, the 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratio suggests the use of sands belonging to a common geological area, and also allows the identification of a set of samples that were possibly produced exploiting a further different sand source. As a whole, Sr and Nd isotope ratio values for the samples considered, i.e. 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70833 to 0.70916 and ɛNd = −8.69 to −4.98, differ from the published isotopic data on middle Eastern glass samples and can therefore define a characteristic Sr–Nd signature for plant-ash Sasanian glass excavated in Veh Ardašīr.

Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History by Richard W. Bulliet (review)

Reviewed by: Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History by Richard W. Bulliet Jamsheed K. Choksy Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History. By Richard W. Bulliet. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. 184 pp. $35.00 (cloth); $24.50 (paper). A brilliant social historian has taken on a highly interesting issue from medieval times and produced a fascinating study with complex theoretical frameworks, carefully appraised datasets, and majestic sweeps of insights relevant to both the past and the present. Add to that mix Richard Bulliet’s elegant prose and the result is a feast for the minds and senses of readers. Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran serves as a model of how history can be approached and how historiography should be crafted. Bulliet’s study focuses on the rise of cotton production and export during the ninth and tenth centuries, a period when Islam was consolidating its following in urban centers and beginning to expand its presence in rural areas at the expense mainly of Iran’s indigenous and hitherto demographically, politically, and economically dominant Zoroastrians.1 He traces the links between specialized agrarian production, wealth, urbanization, and confessional change—and how and why those events shaped not only the trajectory of medieval Muslim society but impacted the rest of the world as well. Bulliet then goes on to examine consequences of the decline in cotton production, the spread of camel-breeding as an alternative industry, and the concomitant political ascendance of Turkish nomads on the Iranian plateau. As Bulliet aptly comments (p. x), the events were a nexus of “individual human agency” and “complexities and cross-cutting pressures.” Cotton was utilized in Iran probably from the Achaemenid period (550–330 b.c.e.), when its seeds are attested archeologically, and was [End Page 961] woven into carpets and cloth during Sasanian times (224–651). It also may have been woven into fabric used for the white undershirt or shabīg (later called the sudre)—and certainly would have been cooler than wool fabric—and the holy cord or kustīg worn by Zoroastrians. Authors of the Nērangestān, or Ritual Code of the magi, discussed materials for the holy cord, traditionally made of wool, extensively (chapters 67.1–69.8), including ruling that “cotton (Middle Persian: pambag) is also permissible . . . if it is entirely of complete strands” (67.6, 67.9). Likewise, they declared the holy undershirt could be made from cloth “of vegetable fibers” (69.4)—presumably cotton and linen. However, the Nērangestān, while containing an ancient Avestan textual core, appears to have been substantially compiled after the Arab conquest of Iran in the seventh century (and more likely during the ninth century). Moreover, Zoroastrian records suggest that cotton’s use was not widespread until after the ninth century, with wool, animal skins, and even silk discussed far more often before that time. So documentation about the limited use of vegetable fibers for cloth from the confessional community that once dominated Iran fits well with Bulliet’s suggestions about the spread of cotton’s cultivation and use in the early Islamic period. Indeed, as Bulliet demonstrates (particularly pp. 4–5), involvement in cotton-related occupations increased exponentially after the year 900. Other nuggets of support for that burgeoning in cotton cultivation and trade is found in the Iranian national epic, the Shāhnāme or Book of Kings, where cotton is mentioned several times—not surprising since the poet Ferdowsi composed between the tenth and eleventh centuries. Bulliet makes a most plausible case for new converts to Islam transmitting irrigation technology essential for cotton cultivation into the nascent Muslim communities of Iran (pp. 30–34). After all, having been cut off from traditional trades by their former coreligionists in the Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian communities, those new Muslims needed alternate livelihoods and would have put their skills to use by growing the new crop. However, why “traditional Zoroastrian landowners” (p. 16)—the Dehghans who controlled much of rural Iran—did not follow the lead of Muslims, especially since cotton was by no means commercially unknown or religiously prohibited, when...

Phonetic Spellings of the Subordinating Particle d(y) in the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Magic Bowls

The Jewish Babylonian Aramaic magic bowls date to the late Sasanian and very early Islamic periods. They are for the most part written in an archaic literary dialect (or dialects) that appears to have significantly differed from the spoken language of Babylonian Jews at that time. Occasional non-standard phonetic spellings, however, cast light on the spoken language of the practitioners who wrote the bowls. This article deals with phonetic spellings of the subordinating (or relative) particle (י)ד as either ת or ט. It is difficult to discern a uniform phonetic condition for all occurrences of ת, but the examples suffice to prove that it is a genuine form. In the presently available documentation the form ט occurs solely before words beginning with ʾaleph (< historical ʾ or ʿ). The latter form also occurs in Classical Mandaic as ṭ. These spellings suggest that the realizations of the subordinating particle as t and ṱ later attested in many Neo-Aramaic dialects go back at least as far as late Sasanian times.

Achämenidische Verwaltung und Hinweise auf sie in den Randgebieten des persischen Großreiches

Cuneiform tablets, written in Elamite script and language, found at Persepolis, which once were part of the archive of King Darius the Great (522-486 BC), are very informative about life in the Achaemenid Empire. They enlighten us on dignitaries and officials, their position and their function, and the districts for which they were responsible. Comparable to the centre of the Persian empire is the situation in the satrapies. Officials like treasurers and tax collectors are known from Arachosia, for instance, and administrative buildings copy constructions from Persepolis (e.g. at Tacht-e Sangin at the Oxos-river). No administrative centre in Georgia in Achaemenid times has been found so far. But the find of Elamite tablets at Armavir Blur (Armenia) may suggest that there was a comparable institution in Georgia too. Some support comes from Sasanian times when a satrap by the name ofPapak became »viceroy of Iran«, which at least points to the importance of Georgia held for the Persian empire.

Zoroastrian traces along the upper Amu Darya (Oxus)

The aim of this study is to show how Zoroastrian elements have survived into the 19th and 20th centuries around the higher reaches of the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus), a river now forming the boundary between Afghanistan and the U.S.S.R, whose basin is mostly inhabited by East Iranian Tajiks and related Pamiri groups – that is, approximately Bactria of old. Although Islam reached Balkh as early as the 7th century, such Zoroastrian survivals should not perhaps be too surprising, since Bactria was one of the ancient homelands of Zoroastrianism, and was among those regions which laid legendary claim to Zoroaster's own ministry. Unfortunately although the history of Zoroastrianism in Western Iran during Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian times is fairly well known, its fortunes in the earlier East Iranian centres like Bactria are much less clear. A few literary sources like Strabo can be supplemented by gradually emerging archaeological evidence. Nevertheless Zoroastrian remains in Bactria are meagre when compared with Buddhist ones from there, or with Zoroastrian cultic materials found further afield in Central Asia/East Iran, i.e. from ancient Sogdia, Chorasmia and Margiana.

The Royal Bazaar of Isfahan

Between the Masjid-i Jāmiᶜ and the Maydān-i Shāh was a distance of several kilometers, dotted by minarets, mausoleums, mosques and bazaar areas which served the trade of the central plateau of Persia. They had been built over the intervening centuries since Sasanian times, the old town gradually expanding, some of the small clusters of the bazaar still remaining as satellite villages under Shāh ᶜAbbās’ reign. It was his genius which formed the new city, and it was his conception that linked the new with the old.Today, the least known to the visitor but in many ways quite the most fascinating aspect of Isfahan is the region that lies between the great mosques: the bazaar. Built by Shāh ᶜAbbās, the entrance to the bazaar, the Qaysariyah, stands at the center of the north end of the Maydān-i Shāh. Set back from the main plaza in a fivesided recess, it forms a courtyard which once embraced a large pool.

オリエントにおけるリュトンの形式と用法について

The Greek word “rhyton” does not essentially mean “a drinking-vessel in the shape of a horn.” “ρυτον” is the name of a vessel which is derived from a verb “ρεω”. “ρεω” means “to flow out.” Actually, in the Aegean world, the rhyton had the spout at the lower part, which permitted a stream of wine to flow out of the vessel, and probably which was opened and shut by a finger.The so-called rhyta from the ancient Iran are classified into the follow ing five classes by Ghirshman.1. Vessels in the form of an animal.2. Vessels in the form of an animal head.3. Vessels in the shape of a horn with the form of an animal head.4. Goblets with the form of an animal-protome.5. Amphorae.But these contain vessels that do not have the spout, through which stream of liquid can flow out, athough the “rhyton” had originally such a function. Therefore, according to function, we get the following classification:1. Vessels which have an original function of the rhyton.a. Those with the spout at the upper part.… The zoomorphic rhyton: the spout at the animal mouth.… The amphora-rhyton: the spout at the handle.b. Those with the spout at the lower part.… The zoomorphic rhyton: the spout at the breast.… The rhyton with the protome of an animal: the spout at the breast.… The amphora-rhyton: a few spouts at the base.2. Vessels which do not have an original function of the rhyton.… The cup with an animal head.… The cup in the shape of a horn with an animal head.… The goblet with the protome of an animal.So the writer think that the vessel which does not have an original function of the rhyton should not be called a “rhyton” but a “cup in the shape of a horn” and should be distinguished from the rhyton.In the Parthian period long horn rhyta were prevalent, mostly with the protome of an animal or the bust of a woman, though there were also the Greek rhyta with the form of a bull head. In the Sassanian period the form of the old traditional rhyton of the form of an animal or an animal head revived and was used as the real rhyton. There were also amphora-rhyta, and those with the mixed forms of jar and an animal head.The vessels in the form of an animal head which do not have an original function of the rhyton were probably used for drinking with from their circular brim like regular vessels, and seem to have been used at banquets and ceremonies, as is seen in the drinking scene on the relief from Assyria.On the other hand, of vessels which have the function of the rhyton, those in the form of an animal were used for the libation of the religious ceremony. and the same may be true of the amphora-rhyton with the spout at the handle. As for the rhyton with the form of an animal head, especially of a bull head, we should note the Bakchos scene on the silver plate from north-west India (the British Museum) and the silver cup in the Sasanian times (the Cleaveland Museum), in which the hero raises the rhyton high up and drinks from the spout at the bull mouth. Because Dionysos was identified with the spirit of Haoma, these vessels were probably used at the ceremony related to such a faith. It is surmised that the rhyton in the form of a bull head from Deilaman was used for the libation in the rites of Drvaspa, because it has the head of Drvaspa, guardian deity of cattle.The amphora-rhyton is not a drinking-vessel, but may be a pouring-vessel. The amphora-rhyton found in the ancient tomb at Tchertmlik in southern Russia has a sieve at the neck with which to filter dregs of wine, and three spouts through which to pour clear wine into cups. The amphora-rhyton found at Mazandaran shows Anahita, or her servant under the arcade of a grape vine. The Aban Ya

Zoroastrian bāj and drōn—l

The word bāj (older wāj) has been an important part of Zoroastrian religious vocabulary from at least Sasanian times; and the act of ‘taking the bāj ‘is so general and significant that in a Jewish-Persian text the Zoroastrians are distinguished thereby from those of other faiths: gabragān abā bāj-stānš ān ‘the Zoroastrians with their taking the bāj ‘.1 Down the centuries the word has acquired additional meanings; but the range of its usages in older times was already so wide that E. W. West, working on the Pahlavi texts, applied for an interpretation of them to Tehmuras D. Anklesaria. This Anklesaria admirably provided, in a letter which he himself subsequently published among the appendixes to the Gujarati translation of the first part of the Dādestdn ī dīnīg, made by him in collaboration with S. D. Bharucha.2 This was the pioneer treatment of the term.

A History of the Jews in Babylonia: III. From Shapur I to Shapur II; IV. The Age of Shapur II; V. Later Sasanian Times

A History of the Jews in Babylonia: III. From Shapur I to Shapur II; IV. The Age of Shapur II; V. Later Sasanian Times

The Iranian Festivals Adopted by the Christians

The Zoroastrian calendar which was in official use in the Sasanian times in Iran is conveniently called “Young Avestan”. This system of time-reckoning, which was adopted by the Persian government in the Achæmenian period and most probably about 441 B.C., was introduced later in Cappadocia and Armenia. The date of its introduction in Armenia is not known. According to Moses of Khorene, the famous Armenian historian (ii, 59), the order (or succession) of the weeks, months, and years which was unknown to the Armenians was regulated by Ardashes II, king of Armenia. Gutschmid (Kleine Schriften, iii, p. 209 n.) is inclined to identify this king with the historic king Tiridates, the founder of the Armenian branch of the Arsacid dynasty and a contemporary of Nero. But the names of the 10th and 12th Arm. months point to an earlier date for the said introduction. The former is called “Mareri”, which name according to Marquart's conjecture (Untersuchungen zur Geschichle von Ēran, p. 205) is derived from Maidhyāirya, the well-known Avestan season festival or gāhanbār, which was originally in the 10th Persian month and remained there till the time of the first of the 120 yearly intercalations, which must have taken place (if carried out regularly) about 321 B.C. The name of the 12th Armenian month is ”Hrotic'“, which is believed to be the Armenian form of Frōtīgān-Frōdīgān, the Persian feast better known as Fravardīgān, the words being derived from the O.Pers. fravarti, Avestan fravashi.